Wash cold, then wash hot? S.O.S.

[happylabs]

That's more important for "used" diapers. Though you are supposed to prewash them before baby wears them. I always washed (note the past tense-Nathan's been potty trained for a couple months, so no more diapers here!) them on a short cycle (wash and rinse) on cold without any soap. That was mostly to rinse much of the pee out of the diapers. Then a hot longer cycle (wash and rinse once again) with soap. Lastly I ran a second cold rinse to make sure all the soap was out. Then I hung them on a dry rack.

I used a dry rack rather than a line for a couple reasons. I could hang them on the rack in the house then move the rack outside. I found that much easier with a baby then trying to take baby and diapers outside to hang them. Also if it started to rain I could quickly run outside and bring the whole rack inside.

You will want/need to use the dryer every now and then. Actually it's good for your diapers to go through the occasional run in the dryer.

You'll want to look up how and when to "strip" your diapers too.

That is a lot of water! Wow...I am glad I used disposable way back when my kids were little. I would have gone broke with my water bill.

[Nomilynn]

my boyfriend's sister, who uses bum genius diapers, has a bin in the laundry room with a Borax solution and presoaks the diapers, after hand rinsing any bad stains. Then as far as I know, she just washes them once. She also used hemp inserts (she made her own). I don't know the specific details of it but I can see if I can find out.

[ChrisH]

my boyfriend's sister, who uses bum genius diapers, has a bin in the laundry room with a Borax solution and presoaks the diapers, after hand rinsing any bad stains. Then as far as I know, she just washes them once.

That's exactly what I used to do with the nappies, as us Brits called them. Rinse, soak, hot wash. Simple. Many moons ago it was, (46years), and in those days disposables were not even an option.

[Lilith Cherry]

Me too, Chris and not one of my three kids ever had a nappy rash! Cloth diapers/nappies win hands down in my opinion.

[moosmom]

I'm guilty of killing the earth by using Pampers WAAAAAAAYYYY back in 1976. I don't think I could deal with a baby now. The guilt alone would kill me.

[Logan]

If you have a newer model washer, you won't use nearly as much water as the older types. I imagine you would still come out cheaper than if you bought disposables. They are VERY expensive!
Kari, hope you get it all figured out! I'm sure you will.

[finn's mom]

Well, I've been told by several people that the cold then hot washes really are for used, but I went ahead and did it with the new ones. Not too bad, really, I did a medium load of diapers (I have 16 of them), in cold/cold, then I added the inserts for the hot/cold and rerinsed. If I was washing all my clothes that way, there'd be a problem, for sure. But, the size of the load is so small, medium will be the largest load size I'll use for the diapers. I'll probably usually use the smallest size. And, I use a miniscule amount of soap, anyway, and it calls for such a small amount...and not drying them will save a bundle, too.

I definitely think I'm still coming out on top as far as financially by going this route!

[BitsyNaceyDog]

We actually have a well so our water cost is way less than families with city water. Yes, we pay for the power and maintenance, but it's not much at all. Disposables are so expensive it's definitely cheeper to use cloth. I could wash a whole days worth of diapers for the cost of 1 or 2 disposable. (I did the math once, I don't remember exactly what it came out to though.) I went with cloth for many reasons though, not just because of the cost difference.